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The third chapter of Jusant, Solstice, is presenting a second environment the characters must pass by, to reach the next objective on their journey to the top of the Tower.

This level sets the player on the sunny side of the Tower in an agricultural region in which the population grew their food on huge vertical fields. Using the environment at its best, creating mills and terraces along the rocks.

Such as the rest of the game, we accompanied each newly discovered chapters with their own gameplay features and mechanics. It was both a way of supporting the narration, while renewing the gaming experience at each level.

Gameplay Features & Mechanics

Solstice whole level is based around the sun and its impact on game mechanics. It's a feature only displayed in this chapter that will mainly affect two mechanics.

First, it increases how fast the stamina is consumed while climbing on sunny surfaces. Secondly it burns climbing roots on the walls, adding time-challenging sequences.

This chapter also introduces a new fauna through the Small Beetles.

These rock insects can be climbed by the avatar, and act as moving grips. They present a new way of using the climbing mechanics, and give more depth to the overall environment of the Tower.

A new escalation tool is added to this level, in the form of the Relay.

It is a safe place that players can encounter on walls, and allows them to rewind the rope while resetting the stamina. It, then, acts as a new starting point and offers longer climbing sessions.

The Burning Roots and the Small Beetles required discussions between me and the developers to provide usable tools during the levels creation. Together we determined variables that could be tweaked by the designers, to balance the pace and vary the challenges. Such as :

Time of appearance of plants / Light and shadow management / Beetles movement spline tracking / Impact on movement speed while being grabbed by the character...

Level Design

This level was the third one on which I worked during my time at DON'T NOD. It was a bit particular since I got this map after a first pass from an other designer : Gaëlle Oliveau.

There was a long work of information gathering, so that I could respect the layout which has been done, while modifying it with our latest standarts.

Our core design team tasked me to reduce the size of the level, rework and create two major zones, and make slight changes throughout the map. These can be seen below, after which I'll focus on describing both major areas I worked on.

This was to provide an updated level, learning from the experience gained by working on other maps and using the latest mechanics and features created.

Focus On The Mill Section

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The main guidelines, both creative directors and my lead designer gave me, were to create an area centered around climbing a structure. It was supposed to last about five minutes, and provide a puzzle challenge, as we intended in our game.

The fact that it could be a mill was already an idea we had earlier in the stage of modifying this level. Then, I decided to pursue that thought, and build the shape of it, via blockmeshes, at the center of the area.

Along iterations, I designed my layout to make players climb around the mill and not directly on it. Except for the last part, where you are moving on the mill wheel, which would act as a memorable moment of this zone, and ultimately of the level.

Mill Base

At the entrance of the mill section, I used structures to create a "window" framing the exit location.
It is foreshadowing the objective players must reach, by guiding their gaze towards it.

This same "window" also serves as a foreshadowing tool from its other side. A second perspective which frames and announces the gameplay features (in blue) players will encounter during the mill's climb.

The base of the mill is a space which calms the pace, before climbing its structure. A wide area that provides narrative contexts and elements, through letters and buildings around it.

All over the map, this kind of narrative areas gave rise to talks between me and the 3D Artists. The main purpose was to give free rein to their ideas to fill some empty spaces with environmental narrative content. While at the same time, ensuring that they are interesting for the player to browse. In the example above, it goes by a teasing of a collectible reachable in the next area.

Unlike the base of the mill, I designed the climbing section with more cramped platforms which are therefore more directive. They guide the player towards his next grip, and clearly separate the phases of exploration on the ground and those of climbing on the walls.

Climbing Sections

Climbing sections were built around an alternation between structured and natural grips. It was a way to narratively picture that inhabitants were there once, but nature slowly takes its place back. A phenomenon that becomes more pronounced as the game progresses. Furthermore it also reminds players that they are climbing a special building which is presented in communion with nature, another important point of Jusant's narration.

Gameplay wise, this manifests through the use of the different mechanics presented in this level and in the previous one. The mill is a summary of everything players have learned so far.
They encounter basic climbs, jumps, grapples points, and also freshly discovered features, such as Small Beetles, Burning Roots or Relays. Game Featues mixing the use of natural elements, and built by the inhabitants.

Even if I used features already known by players, I wanted to provide new situations by mixing the mechanics.
Such as for example in the video opposite, a situation in which the player must swing towards burning roots and time their companion ability to make them bloom.

Combine features also unveils particular behaviour. Placing Burning roots near Beetles will show players that when they use their companion ability on roots, it also stops the beetles movement. A way of teaching things which is more satisfying for players.

Of course, it won't be the ascent of a mill if players couldn't climb on the blades. Designing this part of the level, I was searching a way to reach them. Through iterations, I finally decided to get there by a rope swing.

For me, and the core design team, it was an important piece to make this place memorable, as well as a unique structure to climb on.

The mill section also allowed me to work on various technical aspects. Like the interaction tool we used for grappling hook points. Here, since the blades are behind the characters when they are near it, I worked on using a rail camera. These cameras were both a way to guide players towards their next objective, while being a staging tool. The latters and the music could sometimes give all the emotional consistency of a scene.

Last Wall To Observatory

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For this part of the level, we wanted to create a final wall that would summarize this chapter. To do so, I focused myself on creating challenges around the use of Beetles, Burning Roots and Relays.

This section is a reminder of the whole level by the reuse of some situations. But it is also a renewal of the experience, through the mix of the ingredients listed above into new challenges.

An area which also transmits, via its environment and architecture, the agricultural past of this layer of the Tower.

Global Shape

This part of the level was totally different when I picked it up after my colleague's work. They were more elevators, and players didn't climb from this side of the wall.

We therefore first wanted to refocus the challenge on the interest of this chapter, by evolving on the sunny side. Then I started by placing a huge flat vertical plane which acted as the wall, and adding to it various gameplay situations.

Over the course of iterations, we were not satisfied about the length of this part, finding it too long, artificially lengthening the duration of the level.

I reduced its size, while adding obstacles on the path, which made it a more compact and interesting area.

Reducing the length also required a work on the start and end of this part (screenshots above). At the start I wanted players to discover the whole challenge they were about to face. To do so, they begin at the edge of the wall, and slowly see the upcoming situations, while already climbing it.

For the last step of this part, it was no different, since we wanted to work the staging of the level's end, through the appearence of the Observatory. Its circle shape allowed me to tease it at various locations along the climb, before entirelly seing it.

Gameplay Situations

Below I present a glimpse of gameplay situations players encounter in this part of the level. I tried to provide various challenges, through the use of features and mechanics players have yet learned.

Environmental Work

Those climbing sections are separated with horizontal areas, on which I worked with the environment artists. They balance the pace between gameplay demanding climbing sections, and relaxing walking exploration zones.

It is also a way of giving the artists and the narrative designer spaces to place narrative content. That was an important aspect of my work on Jusant, since most of the story is told through the environment and the narrative collectibles.

Here's an example of how, along the level, the environment artists and I worked on artificial sun cover to tweak the situations difficulty. Since some of the walls players climb are not surrounded by other surfaces, we decided to create shadows through a zip line system for transporting goods. An idea that both serves the narration and the gameplay.

In the example above, a transport platform protects Roots from being burned (blue lines) by the sunbeams (yellow lines). It ease the transition to the next one which is not protected (yellow circle), and provide two circumstances players must adapt to.